The present invention relates in general to the field of menus and content for automated responses to callers, and more particularly relates to a method and system for adapting voice recognition and touch-tone menus based on the frequency of caller requests for information and for adapting a voice recognition and touch-tone content for information retrieval systems.
Telephone call centers handle millions of calls from consumers each year. One significant expense for call centers is the expense of training and maintaining operators to answer inbound calls and interact with callers to help callers complete their objectives. To manage and reduce costs, call centers typically rely on automated responses to caller inquiries so that fewer operators are needed for a given volume of inbound calls. For instance, inbound calls to a call center are answered by interactive voice response units that provide information to callers without operator intervention by interacting with callers through a DTMF tone-based menu. If callers are able to complete their objectives by interacting with automated systems, calling centers typically enjoy substantial cost savings.
One difficulty with the use of automated responses to caller inquiries is that the nature of caller inquiries to a calling center may vary substantially. Thus, automated menus tend to present a broad range of options for callers to select from. However, the greater the variety of possible caller objectives, the more complex the automated menu tends to grow. Complex menu options tend to discourage callers from pursuing their initial objectives due to the length of time typically needed to navigate through the menus. Often, callers end up with their objective unmet, giving up on the automated system in favor of waiting for an operator. Thus, complex navigation menus may fail in reducing operator workload while producing dissatisfied customers.
One solution that simplifies caller interaction with automated interactive voice response units is the ability to apply voice recognition for determining caller inputs. Voice recognition allows callers to state a query which is analyzed to determine the desired information. Voice recognition enabled interactive response units are typically simpler to use than DTMF tone based systems since a caller is able to simply state a request without having to select from a defined list of menu items. However, voice recognition accuracy suffers when the glossary of terms to be recognized becomes large or when communication of voice utterances is unclear, such as with a bad telephone connection or an unclear speaker. Failure of voice recognition often leads to frustrated callers who are unable to obtain desired objectives or to even navigate through menus that require voice recognition.
Another difficulty with the use of automated responses to caller inquiries is that the content of the information provided to the caller is rarely updated and tailored to the callers needs over time. The content of the information provided has a high degree of validity and applicability on the day of implementation. However, over time, the callers needs, the technology, and other related systems change, thus establishing the requirement to update this content. Out-of-date content will discourage callers from using the automated systems. Thus, the automated systems will fail to reduce operator workload while producing dissatisfied customers.